Day of Imprisonment

The elevator descended.

The creaking and groaning sounds inside the car made one feel that this thing was very unsafe, and that it might malfunction at any moment, either stopping suddenly or, even worse, plummeting down.

Luo Xi tilted his head, looking at the inner wall of the car beside him.

Suddenly, he smiled.

"I've found the 'Dui' trigram ' ', which means the real key to clearing 'The Haunted Building' is still related to the trigrams scrambled by Mao Daoren. For example, correcting the scrambled trigrams. I think that must be the condition for a perfect clear in this scenario."

Luo Xi said suddenly.

An Zhiyan was stunned. At first, she thought Luo Xi was talking to her, but she quickly realized he wasn't.

Luo Xi was talking to himself.

But what Luo Xi did next sent a chill down her spine.

"You guys don't know a thing. If you came, you'd die without even knowing how."

"And Glasses, don't you know you died once in a dream? You still dare to talk to me like that..."

"I'm telling you, the entire building is shaped like a 'U'. This shape corresponds to the Bagua positions. I saw the 'Zhen' trigram ' ' in Area A, and Ke Lan found the 'Li' trigram ' ' in Area D. According to east facing west, the correct trigram for Area D should be 'Dui' ' '. So, AD corresponds to east and west, then the remaining two areas, BC, must contain the northeast, north, and northwest directions, which are the 'Gen' ' ', 'Kan' ' ', and 'Qian' ' ' trigrams."

Then, Luo Xi looked up, his gaze empty: "And because of the building's structure, the trigrams in the southeast, south, and southwest directions cannot be changed, because there are no buildings to rely on. These three trigrams cannot be scrambled, they are fixed, so there's no need to worry."

"Which means, Mao Daoren can only scramble these five trigrams: Zhen, Gen, Kan, Qian, and Dui. He said that only one last step was needed to succeed. This statement may not be true, but at least it confirms that the Zhen trigram in the east hasn't been scrambled, because that little ghost Zhang Hao failed. And I found the Dui trigram ' ' here. Mao Daoren replaced the original Dui trigram with a fake Li trigram. So, I just need to take the Dui trigram back to Area D to correct the trigram there."

Luo Xi smiled at this point.

"Finally, there are only the Gen, Kan, and Qian trigrams left. Assuming the trigrams in these three positions have all been scrambled, then either they've swapped positions with each other, or they've been replaced with fake trigrams. And the normal trigrams can't be placed randomly either. The place where these trigrams are hidden is very likely to be in this space where only 'scapegoats' can exist. Putting things here won't affect the trigrams outside, just like I can find the Dui trigram here. And the location where the trigrams are hidden must have special ghosts and dangers, like Zhong Kui in the Wanying Shrine. This even saves a large-scale investigation time. As long as we see where there's danger, we can definitely find the hidden trigrams nearby. Ha, this scenario is very interesting. If I don't clear it, wouldn't I be wasting the designer's hard work?"

"What do you say, right?"

He rubbed his hands together while muttering to himself.

His face was full of eagerness.

An Zhiyan, sitting on Luo Xi's lap, didn't know how many times she had silently chanted 'Amitabha, Buddha bless me'.

She felt that Luo Xi's condition just now was even more frightening than the ghost-eating Zhong Kui.

His sudden muttering was very strange, making her feel intensely uncomfortable, and she could tell that Luo Xi wasn't deliberately acting or pretending to be a ghost.

He was really 'arguing' with something.

The elevator wall was relatively smooth iron, like a blurry mirror. At this moment, the inner wall of the car, full of rust and scratches, reflected shadows far exceeding two people. These shadows swayed, like a group of ghosts hidden in the reflective surface.

Ding~!

The elevator doors opened.

At this moment, An Zhiyan couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

The building shrouded in fog was like another world. Luo Xi looked at the dense white fog and murmured: "Fog is water in the wind. In the Bagua, the trigram belonging to water is Kan ' '."

Controlling the wheelchair out, Luo Xi arrived at the fifth floor corridor and first looked outside.

The sky was obscured by fog, and the sun and moon were invisible. Not to mention the sun and moon, even looking from the fifth floor to the sixth floor, one could only see the ceiling below, and it was no longer clear above.

"Woo woo!" An Zhiyan suddenly made a sound at this time. Luo Xi glanced at her and saw that she was also looking askance at the fog outside, with a hint of fear in her eyes.

"There's something in the fog?"

An Zhiyan blinked.

"So, you can hear it. The ghost that replaced you has extraordinary hearing and perception of danger. You've now gained this ability. Taking you out was indeed the right thing to do." Luo Xi actually thought of more things.

He already roughly knew the location of the real Kan trigram ' '.

"Let me think, oh, I've got it. The 'Daozang' says that heavenly ghosts dwell in the feng shui, hidden in the vast clouds and mist. Their forms are unpredictable, and their traces are difficult to find. In the past, ancient sages discussed the Dao, mentioning the category of heavenly ghosts, calling them the condensation of Qi, giving birth to spirits, hidden in the depths of mountains and rivers, riding clouds and mist to travel, neither human nor god, both ghost and immortal, changing endlessly, often disturbing people's minds and disrupting the Qi of heaven and earth."

"The appearance of a heavenly ghost is inevitably accompanied by dense fog closing in, the sun and moon losing their light, the wind howling, and the plants and trees all startled. It can bewilder people's minds, making them lose their way and forget to return, and even more so, absorb people's essence."

"...Arrow shafts engraved with runes, arrow feathers stained with the light of the stars, can penetrate the fog and directly strike the heavenly ghost's body!"

"So, there's one hidden in this fog too."

Luo Xi muttered to himself: "Actually, it's not difficult to find the trigram hidden in this spatial dimension. In danger, there is natural fortune. So, the hidden Kan trigram is most likely on this heavenly ghost in the fog."

"Ghosts come from the Daozang, mystery from all directions. This scenario is so interesting, it definitely wasn't designed by that elementary school student."

After saying that, Luo Xi reached out and patted An Zhiyan: "Can you determine the location of the Heavenly Ghost in the Mist?"

An Zhiyan widened her eyes. Hearing the words 'Heavenly Ghost,' she knew it wouldn't be easy to deal with just from the name.

But Luo Xi seemed to be planning to target it.

She thought for a moment and nodded.

In the current situation, she could only rely on Luo Xi, so cooperating with him wholeheartedly was the wisest choice.

"Okay."

After Luo Xi finished speaking, he glanced at the misty dome again before continuing to move forward in his wheelchair.

Unfortunately, this wasn't the A District where Luo Xi had been before, so he couldn't find Mao Daoren's room on the fifth floor here.

But because the fifth floor had passages connecting the four building sections, it was easy to explore the area. He should be able to make a round before the next nightfall.

"That was in C District!"

After passing through the connecting passage, Luo Xi observed and roughly determined the location of the area he had been in before.

He was now entering D District, which could be roughly deduced from the structure of the building he was passing through. In other words, he was getting further and further away from A District.

Just then, An Zhiyan whimpered twice.

Luo Xi immediately stopped and looked at An Zhiyan's gaze. Luo Xi also looked up at the ceiling, and soon footsteps came from above.

Someone was running wildly.

This was normal. No movement didn't mean there was no one here.

Because according to the rules Luo Xi had already deduced, all Memory Retrievers who had been replaced by ghosts could only enter this unique building space during the day while bearing the identity of 'ghost'.

And most of the Memory Retrievers who had entered the building before had been replaced by ghosts. Therefore, during the daytime, as long as you were willing to look, there was a high probability of encountering other Memory Retrievers here.

It was just that because there were many terrifying existences here, smart people chose to hide or remain silent and would never actively reveal their location.

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So, the one running across the roof just now was either a Memory Retriever who was running in a panic or a terrifying monster.

Just then, An Zhiyan started whimpering again.

"Got it!"

Luo Xi immediately looked for a place to hide.

Unfortunately, there weren't many places suitable for them to hide. Fortunately, the monsters here weren't good at finding people. As long as they found something to cover themselves, they couldn't see you.

This could be considered a small blessing for Luo Xi and An Zhiyan, two disabled ghosts.

For convenience of hiding, the large striped plastic sheet he had found earlier was carried with him. When needed, he would spread it out and cover himself.

Just after hiding, Luo Xi heard a strange sound.

"Is someone playing the drums?"

Dong, dong, dong, dong.

It was indeed the sound of drums, but not a large drum. It sounded more like a small drum that children play with.

The sound was coming from upstairs, but it was very close. For safety's sake, Luo Xi remained hidden and motionless.

After that, the sound of the drums faded away.

Luo Xi skillfully rolled up the plastic sheet, placed it next to the wheelchair, and then straightened the slightly crooked An Zhiyan.

Click!

At this moment, a door in front was opened, and a person poked their head out, just in time to see Luo Xi. Of course, the latter also saw them.

The person was startled, but overjoyed after recognizing Luo Xi.

"Luo Xi? Sister An?"

"It's you..."

Luo Xi recognized the person. She was Zhang Ming, the scene recorder from the Awakened Association who followed Liang Qiu. There was also an analyst named Feng Kai beside her, but he wasn't here this time.

Soon, Luo Xi entered the other person's room.

There were only a few Memory Retrievers in the room, but they all looked somewhat frightened and at a loss. However, they were all a little excited after seeing An Zhiyan.

"Have you been hiding here all this time?" Luo Xi asked.

"Yes, it's too dangerous here. Feng Kai went out to investigate before, and as a result..." Zhang Ming looked a little embarrassed, with abrasions on her face, but she was calm when she recounted: "Sister An, she..."

"She was just unlucky." Luo Xi had a good impression of this scene recorder. She had potential and should have been the first to warn others in the chat group that there were 'ghosts' in the group. If she experienced more cycle days, she should achieve something.

"About that drum-beating monster, how much do you know?"

"We only know it's very dangerous, but we haven't seen what the monster looks like. We only know the feeling of terror and oppression that comes with the sound of the drums. Feng Kai was killed because he wanted to figure it out." After Zhang Ming finished speaking, a Memory Retriever next to her added: "But actually, as long as you hide when you hear the sound of the drums, there's no danger."

This could be considered their experience.

"Understood. Then, besides you few, do you know the situation of others?" Luo Xi asked.

"Yes, that short, petite girl who was with you, Wu Rui, she was here before, but she said she was going to investigate and left, and hasn't come back since."

"What about the one with short hair?"

"Never seen her."

Luo Xi nodded and then held up two fingers: "Now you have two choices. One is to continue hiding here, which seems safe, but is actually very dangerous, because the most basic requirement to pass is to 'survive' seven days and nights, but now you are 'ghosts', so according to the rules, you don't count as surviving. If you hide here and don't go out, the greatest possibility is that you will be trapped here and waste the entire cycle day; the second choice is to go out and investigate, and find Memory Retrievers who know you in the dark night. As long as they recognize your identity, you can convert your identity back."

He briefly explained the rules of identity conversion.

"However, the naming rule still applies after converting back, so you may still be replaced again. In short, you decide how to choose. By the way, where's Liang Qiu?"

"Haven't seen Brother Qiu either!"

Luo Xi didn't ask any more questions. He had Zhang Ming open the door and controlled his wheelchair to leave the room.

Time was short, and he couldn't waste it here.

However, just as he had walked for a while, he heard footsteps behind him. Then, someone pushed the wheelchair, and the speed increased.

Turning his head, he saw Zhang Ming pushing the wheelchair and whispered: "I think you need help now, at least, someone should push you."